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Halo: Shield World
This short-story takes place in between the events of Halo Wars and Halo:CE Characters Covenant *Minister of Exploration *Halo: Shield World Arbiter *Prophet of Regret *Prophet of Mercy UNSC *Professer Anders *Spartan O-09 *Spartan O-78 *Spartan 0-54 Flood *Gravemind Forerunner *433 Sparky Cus Story A worthy opponent A rocket flown right pass the Elite head. He stared at the human firing and engaged active camouflage. The human- unaware of the location of his enemy- started to walk back. He heard footsteps, but not his own; he started to panic. Running away, the human dropped his Rocket Launcher. He ran across the hallways until... he reached a dead end. He fell to his knees. He started to rise into the air, he knew the Elite had found him. The Elite silently spoke to him, "And now, you die!" He started to talk to himself, "No, no, no, no, no, no,". The Elite activated his energy sword and stabbed him in the stomach. Screeching, the human chocked, "No!". The Elite dropped his body, leaving him to die. Two other Elites came out of camouflage, after witnessing the victory. "Very good, my brother. You'll have to tell me, did he soil himself?" An elite told him. The Elites beside the original started laughing. One elite was dragging the body with him. The Elites entered a room- open and wide. In the middle, stood a projector. Other Elite Honour Guards circled the center. The grunts stood infront of them. Another Elite stood there, in his new Arbiter armour. He stared at the three entering the room. "Is the package here?" "Yes, Arbiter. The 'package' is here," the Elite replied. "Grab his hand and place it on that pedestal," the Arbiter ordered. The Elite carrying the body grabbed his hand, dragging it across the floor. Lifting his hand, the Elite pushed it onto the pedestal. A small mist appeared above it. Suddenly, a hologram appeared above, showing the stars and the planets. The Elite dropped it's human corpse. The Arbiter approached it, "Magnificent." A Grunt coordinator came over to the pedestal and typed in the coordinates the Covenant wanted. After he was done, the hologram zoomed through space, uncovering another Shield World. "We must set course for the Shield world. The land of the ancients must recovered," the Arbiter bellowed. All the Covenant in the room left, the hologram was still active. Professer Anders entered the room, staring at the hologram. "Perfect." We go at Dawn... High Charity was near the Elite homeworld, Sang'helios, as the Arbiter and his army prepared to travel through space. "Prepare for departure," the Arbiter called. The Army entered their Seraph fighters while the Fleet master and his crew entered the Covenant Fleet. The Arbiter entered the fleet. In a few minutes, the ships started to rise into the air. Flying away from the city, the fleet remained. A notable prophet individual entered the fleet. He was known as the Minister of Exploration. The Fleet exited the area. High Charity became further into the distance. Space was colourful with asteroids and planets. The fleet approached the Shield World. It looked volcanic. The crew decided on how to land. "Don't be cowards you fools. It may be just a little bit hot but that does not mean it is unlandable," the Arbiter called. The Arbiter looked down, it only looked volcanic on a tiny area of the planet. Then we find out... The Fleet and the Seraphs started to fly towards the planet. The fleet began to burn as it passed the protective layer which could take a fire from a Halo array (They didn't know that... yet). Eventually, the Fleet was hovering in the atmosphere, it was infact green and bursting with life. A few grunts walked past a telescope. Taking a look, the Grunt descovered something terrible. ODST drop pods were inside the forest. It jumped off the telscope and ran towards the Prophet. "Leader. Me see human thingy." "What, this can not be!" he replied. The Prophet paced his way to the telescope, he seen the pod. He acitvated his radio chat with the Arbiter, "Arbiter, the humans are on this planet. They must of somehow descovered our plans." The Arbiter became frustrated with rage. He lifted his hand and punched it on the table, shattering it's glass. A glass shard hit a Grunt's methane tank, bursting it. It started to crawl around suffocating. Two Elites came into the room and carried the Grunt to the onboard hospital. "Slothful runt," the Arbiter muttered. The Prophet was still looking in the telescope. He spotted something disturbing; the entire army was inside the shield world. We were inside the Shield World The Army started to depart from the fleet and the Seraph pilots exited- carrying their jet packs. The Vehicles were driven to the Gravity Lift. The army began to spread across the shield world and established bases and buildings. Several 'domes of light' were activated to control an area on the planet. Elites in active camouflage searched the forest for human forces. Domes of Light were incredibly bright in the night. Almost like glow-in-the-dark bubbles on the planet. It provided little cover for human forces. Elite scouts were walking through the forest while talking, "I wonder why the humans have came to this holy place?" one asked. "Who knows but I think we all know that they are trying to stop us from doing what we need to do here," the other replied. The woods were pitch black. Nothing was in sight unless it was a flashlight. Robotic drones hid behind the trees, recording the Covenant's activity. The scouts spotted a dead human body- mutilated. As flies hovered above it, the Elites were in shock; that wasn't a plasma based kill. The chest had been ripped open and the insides were liquid. The gun of the user was out of ammo. His helmet had fell next to a tree which had fell to the ground. It's recorder chip was off, however it was recently used. One Elite spotted a camera sentinel watching them, it killed it and brought the robot to the other elite. The recording chip was placed inside the droid, projecting a hologram. The Elites watched. What went wrong User: Prvt James Wallace Time: 18:32 recording begin... James was in an pod with an ODST friend. He began to talk, "So what do you think the covenant are doing down there?" Thinking, the ODST made a reply, "I don't know but I know were gonna have fun kicking some Covenant ass!" The two begin to laugh. The pod begins to enter the atmosphere as James and his friend hold onto the protective handles. James begins to sweat from the heat, "Wow. It's hot in here isn't it?" "How d'ya think I feel? I'm in full armour!" the ODST replied. The ODST stared outside the window, witnessing the surface. The pod enters the atmosphere and the pod drastically tries to cool itself. The camera goes off in static. Replaying camera time: 21:42. James panicks in fear over his arrival. He has been on the planet for hours with no radio contact. He looks at all of the other pods. Every occupant is dead. He then starts to worry and scurries over to his pod. Tragically, his friend is dead. Thinking he is just uncosiouse, James starts to go insane, "He isn't dead. I know that. ODST's don't die. Especially from what they do everyday." James bursts into tears and officially admits he's insane. The helmet gets wacked on a rock and falls off. Static occours. reset time: 23:43. James is on the floor, scared. No one can contact him. He finds his helmet and puts it on a rock pointing up in the sky. Unknown solids fire into the air towards the human fleet that had arrived in the area. Thousands of solids fire at it. To James' horror comes true, the fleet crashes into the ground as it tried to retreat from fire. The explosion knocks the helmet onto the ground again. A tentacle is hanging above a tree. James steps back as unknown creatures attack him. "Oh no. Crap!" He falls forward and is brutallated. Two Elites come through and spot his dead body, they shoot a sentinel and the camera runs out of recording time. The Flood "By the Gods, that was five minutes ago!" an Elite bellowed. The other Elite tossed the camera asside. The two of them stuck together- back to back. Shacking their hands as they couldn't control their nerves, the elites spotted Infection forms. Not just infection forms, fallen Elite comrades dead on the floor. The Infection Forms entered the corpses around them, the bodies began to rise again. The Elites went to run away, however, the flood had sorrounded them. The flood enclosed on them as they sent a radio message to the other scouts, "Run, run back to the domes. It's not safe out here. . Wort wort wort! Aaa!" The other patrols were also sorrounded, the flood had descovered the location of all of them. A distant voice was heard, "Fools are ones that run to trouble. We are no fools. Because of us, their punishment is double!" The covenant that could get away ran towards the domes. Spirit dropships attempted to fly back although being fired on by flood launchers. 90% of the Spirits crashed to the ground; feeding the flood hosts. The flood began to produce bases from the corpses. Flood biomass spread throughout the area sorrouding a particular dome. The dome containing, the Minister of Exploration. The next morning, the Flood ha produced plasma launchers used from the weapons of their hosts. The covenant inside knew that the dome could not last forever. Exploration contacted the Arbiter who was at a dome ontop of a mountain, "Arbiter, I need backup. It will not be long before the parasite breeches this fortress. They shoot down aircraft as soon as they exit and the infantry just becomes a minion to the flood." The Arbiter replied,"And the humans?" "Mostly dead. We have a recording. I suggest you send a special operation squad to deal with the flood or atleast call an evacutation of the dome," Exploration suggested. Spirit dropships arrived a few hours later, dropping off several Special Operation units. Exploration cowardly entered the ship and returned to the Arbiter. Two hours later, the dome collapsed due to too many plasma-based launchers attacking the same spot. The battle had truly begun. The Forerunner wants to join The Floods sudden infection came to the attention of the Sentinels. As Faactories remained on the planet, the Sentinel defence army began to rebuild itself. The Flood was breaching the first wall inside what was left of the dome. Shade turrets were ontop of the wall as the Flood tried to knock it down. Two Special Operation Elites started to fire Fuel Rod Guns at the flood, killing a fallen commrade: "Ha! Another fine kill. That makes 11." The other elite killed an infection form attempting to capture a host, "That makes 14." The same battle was fought every night. Only one night, the flood was almost winning when Sentinels covered the skies and fired upon the Infection forms. Sentinel Beams were incredibly bright and provided light for injured soldiers. Spirit Dropships arrived in the area as the Injured soldiers shot flares into the air. The Sprits dropped off Elites with Jet Packs. "Thank the Prophets I'm alive," a soldier thanked. The Spirits began to fly back, calling the Arbiter and the Minister of Exploration, "This is K3-27, we are begining our flight back." Suddenly, the Flood launchers attacked the Sprits, hitting one of them. The attack damaged the engine and caused the Sprit to crash to the ground. As if the Flood wern't a big enough problem, human survivors in Hornets assaulted the ruins. Banshees took to the skies. A four war battle had begun Flood vs Covenant vs Humans vs Sentinels. Unknown to them, the Covenant could take the darkness to their advantage. Covenant shredders cut down the trees towards the dome through a path the Flood could not think of. Two Scarabs arrived in the remains, and fired upon the Flood and their Flood Launchers. Meanwhile at the Arbiter's dome, the Arbiter and the Minster of Exploration were talking to a holographic figure of the High Prophet of Regret and Mercy. The Arbiter began, "Hierarch, we are having trouble on the holy planet. If I can not make it to the relic inside, how am I supposed to complete my mission." The Minster of Exploration contiued, "Yes, we have experienced parasite attacks on our domes. Each one falling one by one. Luckily, the ancients have provided help." Regret glared at the Arbiter, "You are much like the Arbiter on the last Shield World. Determined, intelligenta and incredibly strong. The Parasite does not know of it's intent. Have you heard distant noises?" "Yes, hierarch." Mercy-shocked at what the Arbiter said- warned, "A massive parsite, it has a mind of it's own. It controls all of the others. Arbiter, focus on destroying such a creature then proceed with your mission!" Mercy's hologram disappeared. Regret also mentioned, "What is feared by Mercy is known a 'Gravemind' or 'Compound Mind' by our gods. A good way to destroy it is to burn it. Either glass it until it burns to a crisp or simply sacrificing a soldier to place a incideration bomb inside the Abomination before the creature eventually kills the forsaken soldier." The Arbiter replied, "A Compound mind. I cannot take a risk of bombs. We will have to make it destroy it's cover and glass it until it burns." The Minister of Exploration left the room, going to his room. Battle of the Dome of Darkness The flood was realy beginning to infect the planet. Producing Bio-mass everywhere that had life on it. Sentinels could not possibly contain the flood for long without the support of Sentinel Majors. All of the sentinels decided to return to the factories until the Sentinel Majors had been produced. That caused a problem in the dome. The Flood had an advantage now. Breaching wall after wall in the first dome. "Run!" an Elite called. "Were all gonna die!" a Grunt cried running away. Meanwhile, at the Dome of Darkness, a secret weapon was being created. A Super Scarab was being built with attachments of Rocket Launchers, Automatic Wraith turrets and Hundreds of Auto Plasma Cannons. The Scarabs head was operational however, the rest of the body was yet to be built. The Dome that was beign overrun was under complete Covenant Quarantine. Knowing of his loss, the Arbiter awoke the Minister of Exploration, "The Dome of Light has been fully overrun." "Well then. I guess evacuation was the right choice," he replied. "You are the Prophet in this mission, you have to give me advice!" the Arbiter barked. "Believe me Arbiter. When I am done with the weapon, we will overrun the Flood as if they were humans," Exploration chuckled. "Allright. But what is the secret weapon?" the Arbiter replied. Exploration placed his shoulder on the Arbiter's soldier and whispered the Super Scarab's construction to him. An Elite lookout was searching for hostiles, but to no suprise, no enemy was there. He looked every hour for the next week and finally spotted hostiles. "Hostiles! Outside the Dome!" The Flood was creating Plasma Launchers outside of the dome. Unknown to them, the Dome of Darkness was under full Special Operation control. The Elites and their infected counterparts battled to the death. Spirit Dropships had all ready begun to evacuate the area. Engineers controlled the defensive barriers so the Dome would not collapse. One Elite, Sesa 'Juk rama, stepped outside the Scarab construction factory- wielding an energy sword. Two Honour Guards stood by him. Grunt supporters gathered around him now on a platform. He began to make his speech, "The time has come, my brothers. We must cast down our infected, lost commrades. We will defeat the oncoming enemy. We will defeat them on our battlefields, we will defeat them in their hives and we will defeat them until every last one of them is dead for good!" The Grunt supporters started to cheer- obviously brainwashed by the speech, "Grunts, I do not ask for much but you will aid your Elite companions and wipe out the dreaded plauge. It may not be easy, but it is for the best," Sesa continued. The Grunts seperated, each one grabbing a weapon of their choice. A majority of them left to aid the Elites. The Flood had produced one Plasma Launcher. Drones also began to help destroy the growing infection. Sesa returned to the factory, recieving a holographic image of the Minister of Exploration and the Arbiter. Exploration commented, "Has the Flood arrived here?" "Yes Minister, why?" Sesa replied. "Oh no. Your doomed..." Exploration muttered. "Yes as the Minister said, the Parasite has produced a leader. A compound mind or 'Gravemind' as you may call it," the Arbiter pointed out. "Well, what do I do?" Sesa replied. "Stay alive until the Super Scarab is complete. We will use it to destroy the Gravemind," Exploration replied. Sesa nodded. The holographic images dissapeared. Turning to the Scarab, Sesa's Honour Gurads walked behind him. The Scarab was almost complete. With only one leg to build, the job would be done in almost no time. Sesa walked onto the Scarab's body and into the control room. Installaling the last piece of metal, the Engineers entered he Super Scarab. They Controlled the guns and missiles while Sesa controlled the Laser and Anti-air turret. Meanwhile, outside, the Flood had produced yet another plasma launcher. The Elites desperatly tried to prevent the Flood from infecting the wildlife sorrounding the dome. One Elite was stepping back from oncoming hostiles only to bump into another one behind him, "R'tas?" The Elite- who was infected- killed his once best friend in one swing. Two Grunts were hiding behind a tree, "I don't wanna die," one spoke. "They're gonna kill us!" The Scarab's legs were almost online. The Honour Guards each grabbed a Fuel Rod Gun. The other passengers grabbed a weapon of their choice. Engineers supported the Scarab's shielding. A Hologram of Exploration appeared infront of Sesa, "Is it done?" "Yes Hierarch. We will begin the operation momentarely," Sesa replied. "You must annhilate any witnesses of the Scarab. The Humans could counter our efforts," Exploration implied. Sesa nodded; the holgram disappeared a few seconds afterwards. Sentinels began to arrive at the battle. Instantly firing on the Plasma launchers. Five muntes later, two legs appeared from the ground in the dome. Then the entire Super Scarab exited the ground. It ripped apart the Flood biomass. Two regular Scarabs also accompanied their Super counterpart. The Battle of the Dome of Darkness continued while the Scarabs exited and tried to find the Gravemind. Scarab The Minister of Exploration awoke the next day, startled by the Arbiter's presence. "Arbiter, why are you here?" "Noble prophet, I am overrun with fear," the Arbiter explained. "What is your fear then?" Exploration replied. The Arbiter huffed, "It's Sesa on that Scarab. He is a bigger danger to us in that thing than the Flood are." "What do you mean by that?" Exploration questioned. "Eventually, you will see," the Arbiter sighed. The Super Scarab was stepping on trees in the rainforest. The other two followed it. No flood were in sight. Only a few Constructor Sentinels flying towards the Dome of Darkness. The Jackal Snipers onboard were looking for hostiles with their beam rifles. The Jackals used Beam Rifles as a lookout weapon aswell as self defence. An Elite came up to two of the lookouts, "Allright you birds. What have you found?" The Jackals shook their heads. The Elite nodded and returned to the inner section. The Elite walked throguh the inner section, witnessing some Engineers fly by him- soundless. He spotted the two Elite Honour Guards on duty next to the control room. He entered the room as the door silently opened. Even though the door was silent, Sesa heard it and remotley barked, "What?" "We have found no enemy forces yet. We willl continue to..." the Elite mentioned. Sesa turned around and punched him in the face, knocking him out instantly. "I have no time for failure. I must kill something; anything," Sesa quoted. The Super Scarab and it's conuterparts burnt through the forest. Meanwhile, deep in the rainforest, stood a Human Survivor camp. Their were not many surivors form the forces sent to the Shield World, counting to about 100 of what used to be 10,000. A marine was sitting nex to the campfire, he started to shake. The flood had overrun the other encampments and only the one he was in and another next to the Dome of Enlightement were surviving. The Marine stood up and paced back to his survival tent. Repaired Covenant Sniper towers were used as outposts to the camp. 3 Spartans stood infront of the rest of the remaining marines and ODSTs. One Carried a Rocket Launcher, one carried a shotgun and one carried dual SMGs. They used the Constructor Sentinels to build a wall around the camp. Two Spartans sat down to the fire- having been cold for several hours. The other Spartan stared at the sky, wondering. The Covenant Fleet was in the distance of space, unable to re-enter the atmosphere without burning out completely. He then stared at the other Spartans, they looked back, "Lets go." The Spartans left the encampent into the dark unknown... 433 Sparky Cus The Spartans were cutting through the trees. They didn't know where they were going or what was coming their way- all they knew was to keep moving. Dead bodies lay around the area, Covenant and Flood. Spartan O-09 (the leader of the group), contacted the camp, "It looks like the Flood and the Covenant decided to go to war." "Don't touch the bodies, you may never know if they are infected," the Commander mentioned. The Spartans paced their way through the rotting trees in the area. Eachdead body brutalated in a diffrent way. The Tree's had become rainbows of colour because of the blood from the battle- such as purple, red, green and blue. The Spartans continued to wander through the forest. The Battle looked as if it was completely widespread until they seen a crashed Hornet. At that moment, they realised that they were inside the ruins of the Dome Of Light. A Black Box lay next to the dead pilot's body. The Box wouldn't work. Coincidently, a hotwire kit was next to the box. Spartan O-09 ordered his soldier to hotwire the box. After ten minutes, the box began to work, but with heavy static. Eventually, there was no static and the box played, "Crazy Robots and Covenant {static}" "Pilot what is going on down there?" another person called. "I don't know sir. I can't stay up much longer." Sounds of a Flood launcher whacking the Hornet is heard. "Aaa! I'm hit! I'm going down!" "No your not soldier engage emergency lift operation {static}" Five Minutes pass. "Ouch, Vampires. I can't shake 'em. Pulling out hotwiring set." Small arms fire is heard as a loud bang occours. The Pilot chokes and dies on impact as a large bang is heard. The Recording ends. Spartan O-09 stared at the Black Box and tossed it aside. The Spartans look up in the sky and see a full Covenant Quarantine in operation. Bodies started to rise only to be knocked down again by passing Banshees. The Flood was infesting deep within the ruins of the buildings. With full Covenant Quarantine, no-one who makes it in, isn't coming out. Spartan O-09 whispered to his compainions, "Ok, we will have to sneak through the ancient ruins of this place, underneath the Covenant Temple." "Ok," the other two replied. The three Spartans pretended to be dead and slowly made their way to the temple. The flood had fully taken over the ruined building. They had degraded it so badly, it looked like an ancient Greek acropolis only purple. Eventually, the Spartans entered the building, guns-at-the-ready. The flood had appeared to have abandoned the area, looking to restart the attack on the dome of light. The place was a mess, corpses hung on every wall and object. Under descust, the Spartans continued to pace through. One of them descovered the entrance to the underground network of tunnels. The three then entered the unknown... Meanwhile, on the Super Scarab, Sesa had become incresingly aggresive, even shooting somebody who disappointed him. The entire crew, including the engineers decided to lock his control room doors so he could not strike them. The Scarab was currently climbing a mountain, scurrying, chomping it's way across until, the three scarabs reached a ledge and rested it's power cores. Four Hours past until the Scarabs reacitvated. Even then, the Scarab's had to recharge their weaponry. In the four hours of time, the Spartans had finally found an area in the tunnel, descovering a humongoes Forunner structure. Sentinels constantly patrolled the area for flood infestation descovering the area. The Spartans lept off the ledge and onto a platform. Where they were greeted... by a monitor. His eye glowing bright yellow, the monitor greeted the reclaimers, "Greetings, I am 433 Sparky Cus. I am the monitor of this Installation or Shield World as you may call." "What the hell are you," a Spartan quoted to his eye. "Well, where are my manners. I am a Monitor, created by the masters, the forerunners before their rather... unfourtunate departure from this galaxy," Sparky Cus replied. "Then why is this here? Who are the Forerunner?" "This installation is a protective barrier from the array of the ringed installations. We have researched your kind since creation and narrowed this down to a sort of 'Bomb shelter' in your kind. Did the Meddler's descover of your presence?" "The Meddlers?" Spartan O-09 asked. "The Meddlers, or known as the Covenant to you reclaimer's. They are called meddlers because of their extensive search on my creator's porjects and grand designs. As they, 'meddle' with the objects, hacking every piece of valuable information. Their leaders lead them blindy in the goal of destroying humanity for unknown reasons. For all we care, the 'Covenant' would be better off disbanded or atleast independant," Sparky Cus answered. "Ok, so who are your masters?" a Spartan quoted. "My creators, the forerunners were a species of advanced civilization and technology. They created wonderouse relics and artifacts. They were the most advanced race in the galaxy in the time of 300,000BC. Then, they descovered the parasite or the 'Flood' as you may call it. Going into war for 300 years. I do say, my creators eliminated the bulk of the parasite, consider yourself lucky. They gave a heavy price for this," Sparky Cus revealed. "And, what was this heavy price of the Forerunner?" the third Spartan quoted. "In good time, I will reveal it to you, young Homo-Sapien. Now you must explore the vast containment of our creators relic," Sparky Cus remarked. Humming to himself, Sparky Cus started to fly through the area as the Spartans followed. Rebellion... The Scarabs had recharged fully, from the point of the turrets to the engine of lekgolo worms. The Scarabs stood near a cave on the ledge. Pacing forward, the Scarabs entered the cave as engineers flew around the cave with lights on them. After a ten minute search, the Engineers descovered a being, so horrible, so disgusting, it looked as if thousands had died to make it. Then a tentacle grabbed an engineer, chucking it into a wall. Then the Covenant knew they'd done it. They had found the Gravemind. A hologram of the Arbiter and the Minister of Exploration appeared before Sesa's eyes. The Minister began, "Excellent, now we destroy this abonomation so we can start our harvest on this holy planet." "Yes, minister, I will begin to destroy the top of the cave, clear for glassing," Sesa informed. "Ok, we will watch through this holographic generator ontop of the Scarab," Exploration informed. The Super Scarab pointed at the cave's roof while the other Scarabs fought the flood. A violent echoe emerged, "This is not the way to choose. For all you know, you might lose," the Gravemind mentioned as thousands upon thousands of Flood assaulted the Scarabs. The Cave was beginning to collapse from extreme plasma-based weaponry. Sesa informed that nobody was going until the job was finished. Gravemind then begin to move across the cave. In the Darkness. Then he killed all of the engineers in sight. Ripping them apart, "Your creators were fools, now you join them in their empty afterworld," Gravemind quoted. Finally, the Cave was fully exposed. Before he could move, the Scarabs fired on the Gravemind as the glassng from the carrier above occoured. The Gravemind gave out a echoeing roar as the Flood became incresingly aggresive, jumping onto the Scarabs. Suddenly, Hornets joined the fight. "This is KR-39 we are ready to get our revenge on the covenant," The Hornets began firing upon the scarab aswell as the flood. Sesa ripped punched his Elite Honour Guard in the face, "I will finish these things myself," The Anti-Air plasma turrets hailed fire onto the hornets, giving them a hard time in finishing the fight. To make things worse, an entire army of Sentinels arrived and hailed fire on the Flood. The Engineers made sure not to shoot their robot counterparts. The Gravemind new what wold happen as Vampire fighter planes arrived inside the cave. But with the Carrier glassing him, he couldn't move. The Battle raged on for 4 hours until the Gravemind eventually died. Every One ceased fire as they watched him collapse and rot. The Flood then stared at the enemy, going into a raged state and blindly assaulted everything in sight. Two Spirit Dropships carrying Exploration and the Arbiter arrived, one dropped off the Arbiter as Exploration returned to a nearby retreat. The Three way battle had rebegun. The flood had all killed eachover in a state of rage. Begins with a Sparky Meanwhile, underneath the gorund, 433 Sparky Cus arrived with the Spartans climbing up into the cave. Not knowing a battle was raging on. Sesa exited the Scarab, handing the controls to an engineer as he flew in a banshee back to the minister of Exploration. A hologram of the Prophet of Mercy appeared before Exploration, "Minister, how is your operation?" "The Gravemind is dead and so is the parasite, hiearch," Exploration replied with a grin. "Excellent, how is the Arbiter?" Mercy asked. "We both know he is doomed on this planet. It is only a matter of time..." Exploration replied after being interrupted. The Arbiter-crashing a banshee right next to the Minister of Exploration. While a battle raged below, Exploration was shocked at the Arbiter's presence. The Arbiter, wielding an Elite Honour Guard's pike knelt next to the Minister. "Hiearch, three demons approach the retrewat, I will hold them off for you and If I don't make it, long live the covenant..." Three Hornets crashed down the hall from the Minister, the three spartans and 433 Sparky Cus exited. The spartans stared at the Minister. Sparky Cus flew next to the Minister, feeling safer out of the Spartans battle. Sesa grabbed a fuel rod gun as the Arbiter charged the Spartans. Firing the Shotgun, the bullet just bounced off the Arbiter's stomach armour. He whacked a spartan to the ground, pentrating his shield. Sesa fired his Fuel Rod Gun at Spartan O-09- who was wielding a SMG. The Honour Guards joined in the fight only to be crushed by the wreckige of several sentinels. The Minister watched the Arbiter battle with the Spartans. Spartan O-09 dodged yet another fuel rod blast from Sesa. While the Arbiter whacked one in the foot with the pike, deactivating the shield. To his suprise, the Spartan grabbed the pike as the Arbiter attempted to bring it back. The Spartan later took the pike right out of the Arbiter's hands and tripped him up in his enraged state. Twisting the pike, the Spartan stabbed the Arbiter in the back, killing him as he looked at the Minister of Exploration. Sesa- knowing he can't take on three Spartans on his own- boarded his own Banshee and left the Minister to die. The Spartans glared at the Minister. The minister spoke, "Humanity, the very race you came from. Coming here to attempt to assassinate me along with my Arbiter and my most trusted bodyguard. I guess he isn't very... trustworthy anymore." The Spartans lowered their weapons while the Minister slowly began to pick up the ultimate weapon against any non-shielded opponent- two needlers. The Minister continued, "It is a shame that my Arbiter could only, permantly destroy your energy shielding. Such a shame..." 343 Sparky Cus began to move away from the group; his curiosity rising by the second. "And yet, you continue to fight the Grand Covenant Army," the Minister continued. "But do not worry. You will not need to fight us much longer," the minister smirked as he said that. "Because..." the minister spoke. "You will be dead," the minister concluded. Before the Spartans could react, Exploration fired his needler, hitting one in the neck and killing him instantly. He fired again in the same second, getting the other Spartan in the head- also killing him instantly. Spartan O-09 stared at the minister as he was shot by a needler also. Spartan O-09 survived the shot and picked up the Arbiter's pike to charge at the Minister. Unbeknowst to the Spartan, the Minister had picked up an energy sword from an Elite Honour Guard's armour. The Sword sliced through the pike, chopping it in half. The Spartan attempted to punch the Minister down only to be suddenly stopped. He felt weird. He felt as if his armour wasn't on. Looking down, the Spartan realised he had been sliced along with the pike. The Spartan knelt down to cover the wound which spat blood all over the room. The Minister dropped the energy sword and picked up Spartan O-72's Magmun. 09 looked up only to be shot instantly in the head by the minister. The Spartan collapsed and died five minutes later, his final thoughts being, "Never underestimate a Prophet". 433 Sparky Cus- suprised about the battle- moved towards the Minister, "The Reclaimer, is dead." "Yes, oracle. But as self defence, I killed them while they attempted to kill me," Exploration replied. Exploration stared at the Arbiter's corpse, "You were not ment for your role. Striken in a moment of weakness. I am ashamed of your event." Exploration and Sparky Cus stared at the battle below. The Hornets had began to retreat as hundreds of Vampires gave chase. The Scarabs later climbed up the mountain to the retreat. Sparky Cus then stared at the massive construct wondering... The Funeral Two weeks later, fully preserved in their armour, the corpses of the Spartans remained in the retreat. The battle had ended with an incredible loss, for everyone. Several Proto-Graveminds had to control the organisation of the remaining flood on the shield world. The Arbiter was dead. The Three spartans dead. The Minister of Exploration conquering 70% of the ground of the Shield World. The Minister himself was not the evil person in this chapter of history, it was the Covenant Itself. Three Pelicans arrived at the retreat, moving at a slow 5 miles an hour. Three Marines stepped outside of the Pelicans and each one grabbed a Spartans body. Spartan 0-78 was first to board the Pelican. The Marines onboard deeply saddened, "You were my favourite," a marine commented. The next Spartan to board the Pelican on the left was Spartan O-54. The Marines onboard saluted with pride over the trajic loss of a great warrior. The Last one to board was Spartan O-09, the greatist of the group. As the Pelicans slowly flew down the mountain towards the camp, a Spirit Dropship arrived at the retreat. Five Elites dropped outside of the Pelican, looking for the since-deceased Arbiter. Lifting the 9ft being from the ground, the Elites silently muttered a section of the Writ of Union together. "Thouh in faith shall heep us safe, whilst we find the path," the Elites resighted. Two of the Arbiter's Hnour Gurads stood bellow the Spirit, mentioning, "While on the path, even the greatist could fall." The Corpse was lifted up onto the Spirit as it flew back towards the Minister's teleporter to the Fleet, where the Corpse would be brought back to High Charity, where it would be laid to rest... forever. Professer Anders had arrived at the Shield World with a holographic copy of the Hologram from the forerunner structure. The Marines around the fire suddenly stood up as the corpses of the Spartans were unloaded from the Pelicans. The Marines stood absolutely still, haven all ready dug a grave for the brave, noble warriors. The Marines formed two diffrent lines widespreade enough for the coffins to be brought through the middle. Each one Saluting with respect. An ODST stood at the Stand to give a speech, "Spartans, the Super soldiers of the future, today. These brave soldiers knew the threat of this war.Today, we respect these noble warriors and all of the soldiers that died on that day. For they are the true legends of the war, not us." Slowly, the Coffins were beings carried across the middle of the marine group. Proffeser Anders standing next to the grave. The ODST continued, "With respect for humanity, these Spartans went to set out and kill the leader of the Covenant on this planet, the Arbiter." The Coffins were placed down next to the graves. Meanwhile, on High Charity, the Arbiters corpse was hovering through High Charity's sanctums. THundreds of Thousands of Covenant- from Drones to Brutes to Grunts to Elites to Hunters to Engineers to Jackals to Prophets. Holograms of the Prophets of Mercy and Regret appeared around the city wereever the Arbiter's corpse floated. The Elites behind the coffin- just like the elites that pulled his body- were parying through the Writ of Union behind the Arbiter's coffin. The crowd was as silent as a snake. The Holographic image of the Prophet of Regret spoke amongst the groups, "The Arbiter, our most amazing soldier. Striken by the humans that we call demons. And even if this Arbiter is gone, his spirit still transcends through all of us." The Coffin had reached the Mausoleuum of the Arbiter, the final resting place. The Prophet of Mercy and Regret were there, looking at the Arbiter's armour. A holographic image of the Minister of Exploration appeared next to Mercy. Floating next to the prophets, the coffin suddenly came to a hault. The Minister of Exploration appeared slightly saddened over the loss of his best soldier's death. Meanwhile, back at the UNSC camp, the Spartans were about to be laid into the ground. Proffesser Anders spoke, "Although I didn't have anything to do with the Spartan program, my master-Dr Catherine Halsley- founded it. If she was with us in this Camp outpost, she would give a speech devoting to each one of these Spartan's lives. That is all." The Marines still stood at attention. The Spartans stayed in their coffins- until... Flood Bombers were in the skies above the camp, followed by Banshees which killed all of them as the infection forms burst out of them and landed in the encampment. They Quickly infected the first unarmed row of marines at the funeral. The ODST's weapons were still on their armour as they fired at the rising flood. Anders and other ODSTs and Marines ran for the Bunker. The ODSTs knowing of their inevibatle deaths. An infection form jumped onto an ODST, pushing his helmet off. It began to take over him. As he mutated, he ran for the Bunker door in which the Marines heavily barricaded and locked it. The ODST died and quickly became a Human Combat Form. To the outsidersproblem, the Infection Forms had hacked into the cofins, taking over the Spartan's corpses. The Spartans rose out of their coffins, still with much of their armour on. Within ten minutes, everyone outside was dead. Meanwhile, on High Charity, the Arbiter's funeral was coming to a close. The Minister of Exploration following the corpse.